With the expectation a new left tackle to replace injured Joe Staley isn’t coming through the door any time soon, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan sounded confident rookie Justin Skule can handle things for now.

Shanahan confirmed Monday the 35-year-old Staley will be out at least six weeks after fracturing his left leg in Sunday’s 41-17 victory in Cincinnati. Partly because of Skule’s 19 snaps of relief work after Staley was injured, and mostly because acquiring a starting caliber tackle is problematic, the job falls to Skule on Sunday against Pittsburgh.

“When he came in he did a good job,” Shanahan said of the 49ers’ sixth-round pick who was a four-year starter at Vanderbilt. “We were mainly running the ball at that time. But it’s good to get him in a real NFL game, especially since he’s going to be playing a lot next week.”

“We kept him on this team because he can help us win now,” Shanahan said. “Unfortunately, he’s gonna get thrown into that right now. We were hoping it wouldn’t happen that way, but he’ll step it up.”

You could say responding to crises runs in the family. Skule’s father, Joshua, is in his third year as the FBI’s Executive Assistant Director of Intelligence after being appointed by then-Director James Comey.

Just in case, though, Shanahan said the team expects to bring in some tackles for workouts this week. He said they’ll also continue to explore a possible trade, but cautioned “I don’t think there’s a ton of great options out there.”

With that being said, one could infer trading a No. 1 pick, likely the only means of acquiring Washington’s holdout Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams, isn’t palatable for San Francisco.

Shanahan, who mentioned reserve lineman Daniel Brunskill as a fallback option, said having right tackle Mike McGlinchey swap sides isn’t something the team is interested in doing.

DEE FORD’S STATUS

Edge rusher Dee Ford, who had to leave during the first half on Sunday because of the same, lingering knee/quad injury he’s been battling, is questionable to practice on Wednesday, Shanahan said.

Ford, who was convinced to leave Kansas City with a five-year, $85.5 million deal ($33.3 million guaranteed), was still hurting on Monday, Shanahan said.

Meanwhile, his fellow quarterback chaser, Nick Bosa, came out of the Bengals game in better health than he did after the season opener. The rookie from Ohio State played just 31 of the 49ers’ 70 defensive snaps in Cincinnati but his high ankle sprain seems to be improving, according to Shanahan.

NO ROETHLISBERGER FOR STEELERS

Ben Roethlisberger may be 37 and somewhat removed from the type of player who won two Super Bowls for the Steelers, but his season-ending elbow injury is still impactful.

“Any time they don’t have Ben, that’s a huge deal,” Shanahan said. “Ben’s one of the best quarterbacks of our generation, so I know it’s gotta be a huge blow for them.”

Second-year quarterback Mason Rudolph will make his first career NFL start when the 0-2 Steelers make their first visit to Levi’s on Sunday.

“I know Rudolph will be ready, he’ll step in,” said Shanahan. “They’ve always had a good scheme. They know what they’re doing.”

49ERS TRAVEL PLANS

Since the 49ers’ recent 10-day stay in Tampa and Youngstown, Ohio produced a pair of victories, it’s easy to understand why the team is planning another extended road trip in December.

“That’s definitely the plan,” Shanahan said, when asked about staying on the East Coast for back-to-back 10 a.m. PT games in Baltimore (Dec. 1) and New Orleans (Dec. 8). “I don’t really care where we stay as long as it’s the East Coast time (zone).”

After beating the Buccaneers in the season opener, the 49ers also wanted to beat the heat so they immediately flew from Tampa to Youngstown, Ohio to get ready for the Bengals.

“We (didn’t) want to be in the heat all week, even though the humidity and heat followed us to Youngstown,” he cracked. “But (the heat) shouldn’t be as big of an issue in December, so we’ll have options.”